Culture, Health, and Resistance

     The ultimate goal of human is survival. However, the life is not easy, which is potentially full of risk, pain, struggle, and resistance. I am impressed by the term of “awakening” (Mallory, 2000). When people are awakening? Inspiring by knowledge of survival and evaluation of risk, people make practical decision and make changes to fit in the current situations, letting the life transform towards good. People always have the natural motivation to seek advantages and avoid harm. I was thinking, however, what people will do facing challenges and violence? Do people respond to the violence differently in different cultures? Female might be a specifically interesting issue in this case. Women in diverse cultures are situated in diverse positions. Cultural scenery draws different pictures for women in different roles, such as of mother, wife, daughter. The problem is that, in some culture, women have little access to obtain understanding of the risk and survival. How are women able to make subsequently behavior changes if they even do not realize the violence, let alone respond to it? Additionally, I think what elementary requirements for survival are as women perceived also vary as cultures vary. It reminds me of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943). Basically, the need for physiological necessaries, including food, water, and sleep is in the first level (Maslow, 1943). So what if women determine they have to tolerant some risks in order to achieve these basic needs? They might be helpless when the life is lack of food and money because of economic constraints, feeling powerless to resist the violence. How do they pursue higher level of health, security, morality and family needs when the basic living needs are not accomplished? How are they able to make decision for themselves without power? Moreover, how is it different as a woman in the cruel world? Women historically are suffering from gender inequality in social roles and lived experience. They are struggling with and striving to resist more violence than men consistently, although it depends on different social settings. For health care practitioners, what can they do? What should they do? I assume it is more than an ethical issue. The lived experiences of women, as well as marginalized population, are the outcome of intertwining of structural process, power flow, and cultural system, I think. Thus a deeper understanding of these interactions would facilitate health care quality.

     Although it has been claimed that the order and the importance of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs vary across cultures in different regions (Tang, 1997), I think its basic assumption is reasonable in some circumstances. However, I agree with the statement in Martyn’s paper (2001), which claimed that parents who are under oppressing tend to communicate information to resist the power and violence with their children. Resistance is linked to challenging constraints from dominant power, issues of freedom, and empowerment. People not are merely bearing the risk, but also have the potential ability to negotiate, struggle with and resist the dominant roles, endeavoring to make social changes, and being empowered by power. How to be empowered through resistance? Initially, I was thinking perhaps involvement and take action of resistance make people gain control over their life. Also, people would feel they master the skills of survival required within a certain context, which helps with establishing a clearer identity based on the social roles. In this sense, people are able to resist the violence associated with the political and economic situation and feel empowered. Power is not stable. It is produced through discourse, I believe. Thus resistance would promote the flow of power and offer an alternate way to communicate and challenge the authority of powerful actors. However, the real challenge is that mere willingness to resist violence is not enough (Basu & Dutta, 2008). People are lack of partners. Who would help and support the marginalized? Maybe it is not political leaders, who have own political concerns. What can we researchers do? The first idea comes out is providing an opportunity for participation in making decision. And with more difficulty, create hope, confidence and trust for people for an ideal future. We are standing in the river, inevitably complying with the flow, but also resisting the flow, in order to maintain control over ourselves, and determine our own direction.

Reference

Basu, Ambar and Dutta, Mohan J. (2008).
Participatory Change in a Campaign Led by Sex Workers: Connecting Resistance to Action-Oriented Agency. Qualitative Health Research, Jan 2008; vol. 18: pp. 106 - 119.

Mallory, C., & Stern, P. (2000). Awakening as a change process among women at risk for HIV who engage in survival sex. Qualitative Health Research, 10, 581-594.

Maslow, A.H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50(4), 370–96.

Tang, T. L., & West, W. B. (1997). The importance of human needs during peacetime, retrospective peacetime, and the Persian Gulf War. International Journal of Stress Management, 4(1), 47–62.